WHERE ARE THE WOMEN ARCHITECTS? Architecture in Malaysia has long been a male-dominated playground. Serina is one of the few women architects leading their own firms, and she says women are under-represented in architecture. “In the architectural profession, men do still dominate in this specific ecosystem. Women seem to be content to be number two in the matrix supporting in detail to the men who hold the frontline,” says Serina.
Although at university, the proportion between female and male architecture students has always been evenly split for decades, the number of women that become registered architects, achieve upper management levels, become partners, and own architectural firms has not increased in the same proportion as their male architectural counterparts. Currently, the ratio of registered female to male architects in the country is 2:3. “So where have they all gone?” Serina asks. Somewhere along the line, we are losing our women.
A key hurdle, according to Serina, comes in supporting them to maintain in the profession. She believes that many women architectural graduates start to retreat from the architectural sector after the initial working experience to move into other design-related fields, building supportive roles or even academia. Serina also admits that the construction industry is complex and multidimensional, which could be challenging for women. “Apart from the creation and execution of domestic architecture, the more commercial buildings are laden with hard contractual issues and are a tough environment even for the best of us to push and pull in,” she notes.
One can argue about the challenge of balancing work with motherhood that affects women because of the long working hours, strict deadlines and displacement to the construction site as well as the mis- attribution of work that can lead to lesser women involvement in professional practice despite the growing female students’ number.
GENDER EQUALITY IN LEADERSHIP ROLES Serina also feels that gender inequality remains in leadership roles as there are not many women architects in top management or running their own practice. However, she notes that, today, more collaborative architectural practices are set up together by female and male architects, especially in a start-up. “Few women have such a drive or singular ambition to be at the top by themselves, but more women have the ambition to be in collaborative practice as one of the leads,” Serina says.
The Malaysian building industry seems to be able to accept the authority of female architects easily. Through Serina’s 30-odd-years of experience in the industry, she feels that the industry appears to honour the leadership role of an architect regardless of the architect’s gender. She adds that an architect’s working experience and level of knowledge are more important than gender in aiding this industry acceptance. “The more knowledge you have, the more you are respected for your actions,” she enthuses.
FUTURARC 41
Photos courtesy of Khairul Imran, 2021 Tatler Home
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